Second year student – ready to explore

When asked to share some advice with new first year students about what I would do differently if I could start my program all over again, a couple key tips came to mind. First off, I would definitely organize my time management skills to the best of my abilities. There are so many ways to train yourself to stop procrastinating or leaving projects until the night before, some of which you will learn in this program! My poor time management skills lead to sloppy results that I wasn’t proud of. This is something I will work on in second year, but I wish I focused on it since day one. I also encourage everyone to try their best to broaden social circles and meet new people (even if your shy like me). Having support from your classmates can really come in handy during times of need and can make for an even more enjoyable year full of fun times.

T minus eleven days until an end comes to the new and exciting journey I feared just months ago. Over the last eight months Iv’e experienced amazing opportunities, created new friendships, and stepped out of my comfort zone. This all began by mustering some courage during the initial task of creating a blog and expressing myself on a public platform.

Looking back to the beginning of this semester, I remember doubting myself and my writing capabilities. I lacked confidence because I didn’t have much experience in this area prior to college. I didn’t realize that college is what I needed to learn from and acquire the skills and experience I felt I needed to improve upon. Since then, I have written several blogs related to different areas of study in the AMC course at SLC, and so far, I have loved every minute of it.

While blogging regularly and continuing to learn more about the blogging world, I was surprised to find out that this platform allows the option to like and follow other bloggers. I received notifications that said I was followed by some of my fellow classmates earlier this year. I didn’t realize the content I created was worth subscribing to, so I was very happy and appreciative to see that others were enjoying it.

I would love to continue blogging after this course and even beyond the point of graduating. This platform has allowed me to increase my writing skills and be more aware of current events related to advertising and marketing, politics, or even events happening around my school. Knowing how to properly research topics like these while outputting my opinion is an ability I could really benefit from in the future.

The overall experience of monthly blogging has lead me to learn a lot about myself as a writer and a person. By this I mean, my confidence regarding my writing abilities has improved due to the continual support I have received over the last few months from both my piers and faculty. This confidence has also, in turn, helped with activities outside of school, like job hunting and social experiences.

For anyone looking to start a blog, I fully recommend it just like I did at the beginning of the semester. I wasn’t even sure I was going to like a public platform at that point, but I still understood the benefits of blogging and how it can help with expressing the daily discoveries worth sharing with the world. Do it, log on, and let your voice be heard.

I recently began to listen to the podcast; Online Marketing Made Easy by Amy Porterfield. Although I am a first-year college student, and not a business owner looking to expand my online presence, I have still learned so many new and interesting things related to a field, I may someday want to become a part of.

I chose to learn more about Amy Porterfield when I was given a list of great inspirational business leaders in my Leadership course. Amy offers a podcast which I prefer heavily over books, as I am not too keen on reading. I didn’t know much about Amy prior to picking her podcast to research, but I knew this would be a great opportunity to learn something new and transfer the knowledge I plan on gaining towards others.

So far, I have learned a bit about Amy and her previous work experience, as well as her podcast and what I can expect to learn by listening in each week. I learned that Amy worked at some interesting marketing jobs, including a position with self-help guru, Tony Robins. Although she loved working with people, she always wanted to be able to be her own boss and begin her own company, so that’s exactly what she did.

Throughout listening to Online Marketing Made Easy, I hope to learn more about topics like media organization, ad targeting, webinars, creative design and outreach maximization among different social media platforms. These are all import lessons to learn for an aspiring advertising and marketing specialist like myself.

If you would like to learn more about Social Media Strategist and Author Amy Porterfield, click here to visit her webpage or here to listen to Online Marketing Made Easy for yourself. You can also follow her on social media @AmyPorterfield!

Are you a reader? Check out Amy’s book, Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies, here.

I was recently given a very interesting task in my Market Behaviour class, while on a short field trip to a local Chapters. My classmates and I had the chance to pick and observe one target consumer within a certain age range. We were to take notes based on the persons appearance, interests and overall behaviour, and this is what I found!

The women I observed was alone and looked to be in her early thirties (generation x). She spent a majority of her time in the dietary foods and healthy living sections. While she was walking around, she paused in a section displaying athletic bags and bottles. This, combined with her physical appearance – athletic wear and a Lulu Lemon shopping bag, prompted me to immediately believe she a women on her way to changing her current lifestyle.

My motivation for selecting this particular consumer was simple. I chose her because I valued the fact that she was actually taking the necessary steps towards accomplishing better life based habits, such as eating and exercise, which is something I would love to be able to do myself. Just by seeing her style, interests and demeanor, I could tell she was a powerful women on a mission to find some inspirational culinary literature.

The consumer I focused on ended up purchasing two cook books related to health conscious meal preparation. The title of one book I noticed her looking up, was Sweet and Savory Fat Bombs. She ended up purchasing this along with another similar book. Based off of these purchases, I decided to pick up the magazine Clean Eating to represent something she may be interested in.

After looking through this magazine, I knew that the version of The Self it aligns with really depends on the reader and what their motivation to change is. For example, someone looking to get fit in order for others to recognize them, or for a change in social status, aligns with the looking glass self. If the change is personally motivated and based on wanting to feel good about ones self, it would better align with the mirrored self and personal body image. In both cases the outcome would be an ideal.

Another part of our task was to take the magazine we purchased and find two advertisements that might interest the consumer we targeted, while keeping with the overall theme of the magazine. The first ad I thought was suitable came from the brand Omega. They advertise juicers which are a great way to make quick and easy beverages that are full of nutrients. This product is very on brand with Clean Eating magazine.

The second advertisement I chose to coincide with the magazines brand and the consumer, was from VegiDay. This is a company that produces all natural protein powders, oils, snacks and bars. They focus on “promoting a healthy planet, one bite at a time”. I think these products align heavily with the consumers interest in fitness and health, when integrating them into ones everyday lifestyle.

Throughout this experiment, I came to believe my consumers reason for purchase was primarily apathetic. I think this because she seemed in a hurry while doing research and spent a total of about 15 minutes in the store. Her overall shopping orientation was based on the motivation to either begin or continue on the path of a healthier lifestyle. This led her to purchase multiple products. She seemed confident and focused on finding what she wanted.

I really enjoyed this experiment overall, because I felt like when observing someones behaviour, even for a short while, it gave me a lot of insight into who they are as people. It’s amazing how quickly you can learn about someone based on their purchase behaviour.

This semester, in my advertising course at St. Lawrence College, we were given the task of finding an online article related to the industry, and discussing it with the class. I came across an article about an online campaign, made by Interval House, from Strategy Online. This ad forever changed my perception of the term “the one that got away”.

Interval House is a Canadian organization based out of Toronto, that provides safety for women and children who have suffered abuse from a partner or loved one. This includes shelter, food, counselling, clothing, toiletries and more. They have participating locations all across Ontario in an attempt to make safety accessible to as many people as possible.

On February 14th, 2017 (Valentine’s Day), they release a video titled, Men Talk About the One That Got Away. This was released on various online platforms, including YouTube, where the video has already reached over 75,000 views.

The video begins with three men who were asked to describe the one that got away. Instinctually, you begin to feel sorry for them, and the emotional stories they are telling. The ad then takes a turn by stating that, “the only thing worse than feeling sorry for them is having to go back to them and that it takes an average of 5 attempts to leave an abusive partner”.

In the minds of viewers, the love filled saying that we initially associate with these stories completely changes, highlighting the fact that, it isn’t always easy to notice abuse or those guilty of the crime. The campaign did a great job at bringing a topic people often feel uncomfortable speaking about to light, while raising awareness for those who may not be familiar with the options available to get out of abusive situations.

I felt that this video was emotionally effective and hope it empowered individuals going through a terrible situation like this to seek help, and research the different options available within their community. If you would like to watch this video, click the link above and share it on social media to help spread the word against domestic abuse.

It takes a lot of courage to be able to put a piece of yourself out for the anyone to see, whether it’s related to a big idea, public speaking, or even voicing your opinion through a piece of writing.

Blogging is exactly that for me, it’s intimidating. However, I’m excited for the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and put the fear of judgment aside for the sake of learning a new and important skill.

When it comes to my current strengths and weaknesses in writing, I would say I have improved over the past few years. I think taking direction well is one of my strengths in relation to writing criteria. It is essential to back up what you’re writing with examples and something people can relate to. This can help a reader understand the point you’re trying to convey, as well as make what you’re writing more interesting.

When I was in high school, English was not my best subject. I hated reading and I found long winded essays to be draining. I slowly began to realize that the problem wasn’t necessarily the task at hand, it was my mindset and the fact that I wasn’t attempting to put my personality into my writing. I would just write for the sake of finishing and from then on, I tried my best to implement creativity whenever I could. This is something I would like to continue practicing throughout my college and future blogging journey.

Like I mentioned before, knowing anyone can see how I feel and what I write is a scary feeling. I felt especially nervous writing my first blog prior to this one. In this case, it was important to step out of my comfort zone and embrace the benefits of writing in a public space, which is something I will likely have to do more of in the future. This could be seen by my peers, professors, or even potential employers. If that’s the case, I feel confident that it’s a good place for them to get to know a little bit more about me and what I have to offer.

For anyone who is considering writing a blog but are too scared to speak on a public platform or aren’t sure it’s a good idea, my advice to you is to not let a fear of judgment or opposing opinions stop you. Not only are you gaining great writing experience, but you are opening yourself up to a number of amazing possibilities.

They say that college years are the best years of a persons life, and so far, I could not agree more. The fact that my first semester of college is already half way over amazes me because, I’ve already learned so much, made great friendships and been exposed to new opportunities. The one thing that worried me the most coming into college is the level of independence it requires. I have my own apartment in a city I am unfamiliar with, and adapting to new surroundings is always a little nerve racking, but I get the chance to explore a whole new lifestyle with so many new and exciting situations. One lesson I have found particularly interesting in school, was a lecture based on finances. Finances are another new aspect of life that I never had to really worry about before now. In this lesson we had a speaker talk about credit and how to improve scores, the best financial institutions, budgeting money, etc. This is the type of essential information I know i’ll need both now, and moving forward in life. I’m glad being at St. Lawrence is providing me with the necessary tools I need to become successful and am looking forward for what’s to come in the near future.

Click here to learn more about what SLC has to offer. It might just be the college for you!